Feeding the Birds

laurel7172

I also add extra black sunflower seeds when it's cold...the birds pick them out anyway, as they need the extra calories.

And I make bird cake/fill the fat feeder with a mixture of lard and birdseed. Just use any container heading towards the recycling bin, or wrap the feeder in something to hand (the inner liner of a cereal packet is good), slop the mix in and let it set.

I get my seed in big bags from a local-ish farm (I'm urban, but it's a small city). I've bought it cheaper on special offer from a DIY shed, but it was noticeably poorer quality (more wheat, less sunflowers).

Penelope_Penguin

We have an existing thread on this topic, so I'll merge this to give you more ideas

nuttyrockeress

Home bargains sell black sunflower seeds in a bag for about 80p I think - don't quote me on the price.

Our birds wolf these down really quickly.

My uncle feeds the birds digestive biscuits - buys the value range and the birds can't get enough

mardatha

I go through loads of Sainburys Basics digestives. Our robins turned their wee beaks up at mealworms and prefer genteel biscuits. We obviously have much posher robins than you lot !

floyd

ha ha our robin is usually too busy chasing every other bird away to actually eat anything but he got a taste of his own medicine today when a mistle thrush appeared and battered him senseless

I love watching them, such great entertainment

Tulip09

I have been feeding the birds since the bad weather started from various shops when i can find cheap seed but i have also been feeding them scraps etc thrown onto my garden. Today my kids went and fed the usual bunch of birds that hang out there waiting and a kestral type bird came and grabbed one and started killing it in the garden my kids were gutted and pretty upset and i wasnt much better either. About 20 mins later it came back again and got another one, the noise was awful and tbh it has put me off trying to attract them to my garden now. My OH thinks if we make a bird table instead of using the ground the little ones will be safe but im not sure which ones i should go for or if the Kestral type bird will start hanging out in my garden.

floyd

It was probably a sparrow hawk, they like to pick off littlies and one has had 2 successful kills in my garden that I am aware of. They tend to sit somewhere up high to watch what is going on so if you can feed the birds somewhere secluded such as in or under bushes it might help. Dense foliage at regular intervals in the garden also gives smaller birds somewhere to escape to safety.

I like to keep quite a few evergreen bushes such as rhododendron, camelia and laurel dotted around our garden as the smaller birds can dart in and out easily

Tulip09

Looking at the pictures of sparrow hawks - you are right - he is the murderer lol. Time to plant some big bushes etc then, as i have a few trees and a veggie patch & herb tree at the back of the garden and the other side is like a smaller football field, with just grass and a raised border so not much cover for the littlies at all. No wonder he can have a feast there

gillian62

This is the first year I have been feeding birds for quite a long time, due to the fact that I have cats!
However, as I have had chickens for the past year, I have noticed more birds in the garden eating their left overs. So I have got a couple of feeders and put them in some small trees nearby and have quite a collection of birds each day.

I have been buying the bird seed from Poundland - it's what I give my chickens for a treat anyway. This is either Bill Oddie or National Trust, and are good selections of seed. What one flock won't eat the other does.

I have noticed less nets of peanuts which used to be a favourite a few years ago, I assume they have been replaced with fat balls.

gillian62

Just been to poundland today and they have 3 nets of peanuts in a pack there. Also got one of the seethrough feeders to put the bird seed in.

They didn't have any big packets of bird seed though. Think there has been a rush on them. Fortunately I have some in the cupboard.